Tiffany & Co.’s ‘Vision & Virtuosity’ Exhibition Announced in London featuring an Extraordinary Display of Jewels, Craftsmanship and Creativity

Marking Tiffany and Co.’s 150th anniversary in London, ‘Vision & Virtuosity’, an astounding exhibition from this iconic jeweller, debuts at the Saatchi Gallery, London, from 10^th June – 19^th August, with complimentary tickets going live from this week. 

Bringing over 400 objects from the House’s archives to London, the immersive exhibition is a celebration of Tiffany’s authority as the purveyor of the world’s finest diamonds and a showcase of how two core values—vision and virtuosity—have guided the House for 185 years.

A visual chronicle of the storied jeweller since its founding in New York City in 1837, the exhibition is split into seven different chapters. Visitors will journey through everything from archival high jewellery designs, Tiffany’s famed window displays and its recently acquired Empire Diamond of over 80 carats to important relics of popular culture such as the original script from ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’.

An accompanying exhibition catalogue presents the exhibition’s highlights, showcasing creations by everyone from Louis Comfort Tiffany and Gene Moore to Jean Schlumberger, Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso, John Loring, and the House’s most influential visionaries. 

The 128.54 carat Tiffany Diamond in its current setting: a breath-taking necklace featuring over 100 carats of diamond

Additionally, an exclusive curation of artist collaborations and limited-release items in Tiffany Blue^® will be available at the gift shop. Collaborations include T-shirts and hoodies designed by Daniel Arsham, Tiffany & Co. x Wilson® footballs, Quartersnacks skateboards, Mellow Gemini vases, Krink paint markers, Caran d’Ache pen and pencil sets and Bellocq tea sets.

A series of ‘Late’ evenings, events, talks and workshops will feature across the summer as part of the exhibition. Featuring experts from the worlds of jewellery, art, design, fashion and culture, visitors can get even closer to the jewellery, with some even being available for try-ons. A once in a life-time opportunity to experience some of the world’s most beautiful jewels up close. Details on the programme to be released in due course.

Complimentary tickets are available now through the Tiffany & Co. exhibition app where you can also discover exhibition highlights, exclusive content and more. 

 

Tiffany & Co New York minute

Continuing a stealthy turnaround in its design vision, last month Tiffany & Co announces its intention to put watch-making centre stage, with the launch of a new collection of New York-designed timepieces powered by Swiss movements.

Though overshadowed by its standing as a jeweller and producer of ever-popular designs by visionaries such as Jean Schlumberger, Paloma Piccaso and Elsa Peretti, Tiffany & Co’s understanding of the business of watch-making is impressive, with roots dating back to its 19th century Geneva manufacture. That means that when it comes to horological prowess, it knows more than most luxury houses about how to build a watch from the base-plate up.

One of my personal favorites: Tiffany & Co Atlas Men’s watch in 18K yellow gold (Click photo to enlarge).

Its John Loring-designed timepieces from the 1980s and 1990s include, arguably, some of the most visionary watch designs of the modern era. Loring, Tiffany & Co’s current design director emeritus, helmed the design department for 30 years from 1979 to 2009. Key models of his creative tenure include the Atlas watch, notable for its relief-style Roman numerals that start on the dial then stretch out across the bezel.

Decades before fashion cottoned on to the chic watch as a luxury accessory, Loring had sensed a desire for less formal designs, creating a sports-luxe horological offering for women he knew, Paloma Picasso, among them.

Some models of the Tiffany & Co CT60 (Click photo to enlarge).

The new Tiffany CT60 collection taps into a more classic period of the New York house’s watch-making past. The key model, directly inspired by a Tiffany watch presented to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, is handsome, if a little too perfectly so. Its silver powder numerals and traditional Swiss finishes, sunray dial, Côtes de Genève, colimaçon and perlage engraving, may be a tad too ‘vintage’ but they serve to remind the wearer of a certain horological authority.

The Tiffany & Co East West is the real star of the new collection. The 1940s feel is there but, with creative input and jewellery thinking from Tiffany’s current design director, Francesca Amfitheatrof, it harks back to the visionary Loring days.

The ‘East West’ invites you to read time across the wrist, as though it were an identity bracelet (Click photo to enlarge).

A way of ‘reading’ your watch that used before by Cartier and Tiffany & Co, was populair in some professions in the 30’s and 40’s. Rather then read the time vertically, you are directed to read it across the wrist, as if the watch were an identity bracelet. The fact that it suits anybody bodes well for the new generation of Tiffany & Co watch design.

by Jean Amr